01010711 This Day In History, July 11

472: Western Roman Emperor Anthemius was captured and executed in Rome by his own generals (see A History Of Jerusalem: Pompey And The Caesars; also Whatever Happened To Those Romans?).

911: The Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte was signed between Charles "the Simple" and Rollo of Normandy.

1302: The Battle of the Golden Spurs (Dutch Guldensporenslag); the Flemish (Flanders is the southern area of the Netherlands that 5 centuries later became the Dutch-speaking northern area of Belgium) defeated the king of France's royal army.

1346: Charles IV of Luxembourg was elected Holy Roman Emperor in Germany (see The Holy Roman Empire).

1533: Pope Clement VII threatened English King Henry VIII with ex-communication if he did not resume his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Henry wasn't impressed with the threat - the marriage was annulled by Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, and afterward Henry married Anne Boleyn. Two years later, Henry broke with Rome and established the Church of England as the national religion of England (while at the same, as with the rest of the "Protestant" world, they maintained nearly all of Rome's antichrist doctrines; see Antichristians and Is Your Religion Your Religion?).

1576: English explorer Martin Frobisher sighted Greenland.

1613: The first Romanov Czar, Michael, was crowned in Russia ("Czar" is the Russian form of "Caesar," as is the German "Kaiser"). The dynasty lasted until the Russian Revolution in 1917 when the reigning Czar at that time, Nicholas II, and his entire family, were executed by the communist revolutionaries.

1616: Samuel de Champlain returned to Quebec.

1708: Forces under England's Duke of Marlborough defeated the French under Louis Vendome at the Battle of Oudenarde during the War of Spanish Succession.

1740: Jews were expelled from Little Russia by order of Czarina Anne.

1750: Halifax, Nova Scotia was destroyed by fire.

1776: English explorer Captain James Cook set sail on his third voyage.

1804: Aaron Burr, a former Vice President of the U.S. killed former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in a duel over political rivalry and accusations.

1882: During the Anglo-Egyptian War, the British Mediterranean Fleet began the bombardment of Alexandria, Egypt (see also A History Of Jerusalem: The British Mandate).

1889: Tijuana, Mexico, was founded.

1906: Sunday became the official day of rest in Canada; the Senate passed the so-called "Lord's Day Act" which was approved by the House of Commons by Sir Wilfred Laurier's government and was supported by Protestant and Roman Catholic churches and labour groups. The act restricted business, prohibited entertainment, sport, and almost all commerce on Sunday. The law remained in force until the Supreme Court of Canada struck it down in 1985 because it was judged to infringe upon the religious rights of non-Christians - an ironic view because the Sunday law in fact infringed upon the religious rights of true Christians. The Government had the right idea, but the wrong day; Sunday has never been, nor will ever be, the true Christian Sabbath (see When Is The LORD's Day? and Why Observe The True Sabbath?).

1919: The eight-hour working day and "free Sunday" become law in the Netherlands (again, as explained above, the right idea, but the wrong day).

1942: The longest bombing raid of the Second World War was carried out by 1,750 British and Canadian Lancaster bombers (listen to our Sermon The European World Wars).

1962: The first transatlantic satellite television transmission.

1979: After orbiting the earth since 1973, the U.S. Skylab re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated over the Indian Ocean.

1995: Full diplomatic relations were established between the U.S. and Vietnam.

1995: More than 8,000 men and children in Bosnia were murdered by Serbian troops commanded by Ratko Mladic.

2006: Over 200 people were murdered in a series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India.